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iManila Help Center

Month: August 2017

Remote or On-site support: Which one fits your needs?

Written on . Posted in Our Ideas.

 

Ever experienced having to call a lineup that took so long to pick-up? Or sending emails that took forever to get a response? That pretty much sums up a very bad client support. What if you are in a hurry? What if your business suddenly slows down because your machines or server’s not working? It becomes much frustrating that there’s no one to take in your call of even send you something useful and urgent? What if there’s no one who could help you get through your disastrous days in your daily business operations?  It may sound dramatic, but it happens.

Ever experienced having to call a lineup that took so long to pick-up? Or sending emails that took forever to get a response? That pretty much sums up a very bad client support. What if you are in a hurry? What if your business suddenly slows down because your machines or server’s not working? It becomes much frustrating that there’s no one to take in your call of even send you something useful and urgent? What if there’s no one who could help you get through your disastrous days in your daily business operations?  It may sound dramatic, but it happens.

In times like this, whom should you call? Definitely not the ghost busters, even if you are too much desperate to get some help. The best thing to do is to contact a reliable tech agency to keep technical and hardware matters covered. Oh, wait do you even have one?

If you don’t have one yet? The initial step is finding a reliable tech partner to help you out.

Related reading: Outsourcing Hardware Maintenance

If you are already in the middle of the talking and you feel like you have chosen a provider, the next step is to determine what kind of support you need to include in your agreement. Below are the things you need to consider to determine which one you should go for:

 

1) Remote Support

Usually, this kind of support entails less cost because the tech guys do not need to be physically present in your office. This will best serve you if you have some personnel who has knowledge in maintaining your machines but lack the mastery of doing it. Remote support has three dimensions:

 

  • Email or Chat Support

This kind of remote support users online connection to send the communication back and forth. Some client opted to go with chat support as this one provides real-time feedback.

  • Phone call support

For some clients, this kind of support works for them. They have somehow a feeling of security because they speak directly to the support person. It saves them the effort of typing and putting their concerns into writing. They can tell directly their concerns.

Thank God (and the developers) for bring TeamViewer to business. iManila, for example, uses TeamViewer in the most challenging remote support that we need to attend to. TeamViewer enables one part to access a machine who has TeamViewer too. As long as there is a stable internet connection there will be no problem.

 

2) On-site Support

In times when a client’s peace of mind relies on seeing a support specialist in the flesh, this will the next option. The process is pretty simple, the support specialist will get his/her hand on the device to diagnose and fix what is needed to be fixed in the machine.

This kind of support is the go-to option of most SMEs because of the lack of a capable personnel to grasp the step-by-step escalation. They need the support specialist to do the repair directly in the machine that needs it.

 

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Given this two situations, which support do you think your company needs? If you do, then you are now ready to seal that deal. Just make sure the frequency of the support is clearly defined in your contract terms. Some provider caps it to two (2) remote per month, and some have 1 on-site per month.

Depending on your agreement, the frequency varies and even the inclusions of the support.

If you haven’t scored any sit down meeting with any tech agencies, talk to us!

iManila is a trusted provider of both reliable hosting services and tech support service that surely covers small and medium businesses IT concerns. Our lines are open 24/7 and our sales executives are available Mondays to Fridays to assist you with your web, IT, and digital marketing queries.

Emails: [email protected] / [email protected]/ [email protected] / [email protected]

Telephone numbers: (02) 490-0000, 01, 03 or at (02) 959-4807

Mobile number: (+63) 917-8476005

Why Should You Consider Outsourcing Hardware Maintenance?

Written on . Posted in Our Ideas.

 

Hardware is one of the infrastructures your company needs to spend a hefty amount on. They house all the applications, tools and data needed by your individual employee to fulfill their day-to-day tasks in the office. And hardware maintenance is also a crucial investment to make sure these infrastructures will serve its operational purpose till obsolescence. Imagine a day when a chunk of your computers shut down altogether in the most crucial day of the month – say a month-end reconciliation or board meetings?

That will be a disaster.

In this age when most corporate organization feel the tight competition, the race towards fulfilling the yearly targets seems so exhausting to all stakeholders, including your employees. And, it will be better for everyone to rely on a team that can do the job of hardware maintenance when the company is in need of it.

Forming an in-house Tech Team

It is not actually bad for you to form an in-house tech team. It is actually in your best interest that this team is on the lookout for any possible software and hardware failures in the organization. But this operational decision is not for every business.

There are those who opt to proceed with the business with even having one tech guy in the organization. Reasons are:

  • It is not their operational interest to form a team yet since the operation can barely support the entire organization.
  • Some business owners feel that tech team may do less than what the other department does since not all the time there are units to repair or server to set-up.

The is the usual mindset of the budding enterprises. And whatever operational decisions the management made isn’t questionable since the growth is the first priority.

However, a business that is growing with hardware that is aging with time, an IT personnel who will conduct hardware maintenance is a must. And if getting a person or a team to be your in-house IT is too much for your operational expenses, then outsourcing is the next best step to take.

Why outsource?

This question has become the most epic question discussed inside the board room. Management with their consultant will do roundtable discussion just to make the right decision whether the business needs to outsource or not. And if you are asking why, below are the two things that you might want to take into consideration.

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  • The truth is absolute; it is financially challenging for a small and medium business to keep an in-house team.

The financial discussion has been the roughest part of any management discussion. The entire business operation nestles on the company’s resources. Without tight budgeting, the operation will fall apart.

Keeping a regular employee could be a little burdensome for the financials. While putting him on contractual and casual status is unethical. This where you might consider outsourcing the job to a Tech agency who can do the job for a lesser cost.

  • The Average Lifespan of Machines

According to hardware.ittoolbox.com, the average lifespan of machines is around three (3) to five (5) years. With maintenance, a machine can last for five years. Well-maintained servers, on the other hand, may last for ten years. Most corporations also use this lifespan as their benchmark for forecasting the effectiveness of all machines and hardware. Below are the factors that IT department uses in predicting the lifespan:

  • Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) of the hardware
  • Increased performance demands of software (requiring more powerful systems to keep performance up)
  • Depreciation rates assigned by the accountants

If you are a company operating on aging machines, you might need to heed the advice or help of IT companies to keep your operations running.

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Do not let hardware failures ruin your day-to-day business processes. Here in iManila, we have more than a million-man hour of experience in handling hardware and software issue. Entrust your hardware maintenance with us. We have Standard and Premium packages that will surely suit not just your budget but also your needs. Talk to us!

Why Is Client Support Essential in a Hosting Service?

Written on . Posted in Our Ideas.

 

Client support, for a fact, is the core of most service-type of business for both B2B and B2C. Its importance is widely adopted and used even with consumer durables. Electronics, vehicles and even gadgets are applying the same principle to keep their product loyalists and earn more clients in the long run.

Hosting service is in any way not an exemption to this kind of business principle. Not all marketers, managers, senior executives, and directors are tech savvy. They all rely on their tech guys too. And in most cases, their tech guys are not round-the-clock ‘bots’ that can check every “bit” lurking in their information system.

There are many errors that clients cannot solve on their own.

One thing is for sure, not every difficulty can be handled well by the client. Even with IT guys around, there are times when things go out of hand and the client may feel that they’re in the dead end in some situation.

Now here are some instances which explicitly show that clients really need client support.

  • When the website’s page loading time is slow like a slug.

This is, in fact, the duty of provider to make sure that things are in the optimal condition for their website to load properly. There are some IT professionals employed by the clients who may opt not to meddle with the server so as not to jeopardize the situation further. And normally, in this kind of situation, providers need to step in to help the client.

  • Mailing difficulties related to the server.

This one is probably the most frequent thing hosting providers like iManila usually deal with daily. There are times when clients fail to monitor email activities of their employees and forgot to remind them to always clear their email trash – or to delete old emails that no longer bear importance. This could congest or bloat their current server space that may lead to some glitches with other software and/or applications hosted on the same server.

  • Hacking incident

There are gateways for hackers to intrude servers and some of those are usually available and vulnerable, to which is no fault of the hosting provider. Though this one may pose a lot of questions and arguments on both sides, hacking remains to be the top issue that needs client support.

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Let’s face it, customer support is one of the criteria that sets a great web hosting provider apart from the lousy ones. And even in the coming years, customer support will remain a vital business aspect that will continue to drive growth for businesses.

iManila is a trusted provider of both reliable hosting services and tech support service that surely covers small and medium businesses IT concerns. Our lines are open 24/7 and our sales executives are available Mondays to Fridays to assist you with your web, IT, and digital marketing queries.

Emails: [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]

Telephone numbers: (02) 490-0000, 01, 03 or at (02) 959-4807

Mobile number: (+63) 917-8476005

Your Online Brand Starts with a Reliable Hosting Service

Written on . Posted in Our Ideas.

 

I heard this a lot from potential clients asking our tech support about our hosting packages. These potential clients are looking for a reliable hosting service provider. However, some of them are not quite knowledgeable. Perfect examples are those who are hesitant to know more about the hosting service they’re inquiring about. Most of them are marketing professionals believing that they need to focus more on growing the brand and creating a solid marketing strategy online. That is why they are passively asking inquiring because they simply need it – or just because they’re asked by their IT peers.

This is usually the pitfalls for some marketing executives. Not being able to understand the parameters and limitations of your hosting server usually lead to disaster.

As we always say, your brand online always starts with a reliable hosting service. And here are the reasons why.

  • Hosting server is your primary business data repository

All the information and files you upload to your website (and the website itself) are all housed inside your server. Whatever happens to your server will definitely happen to your website and your web applications such as your in-house CRM and ERP (if there are any).

Even if there are other factors affecting your website performance, your hosting server also takes a crucial in dictating its performance.

Your server’s specifications have something to do with the efficiency in retrieving data from folders in your server going to your website. Factors such as the bandwidth and processing speed have something to do with the loading time. If you are really uploading large media files such videos, you might need a better and bigger server.

Your business brand online is dependent on the content you upload online. Interactive mediums are usually bandwidth and space-hogging files. Often times, good marketing branding depends on the authenticity and creativity of the content created and uploaded on your online assets. And usually, the most effective content format these days are motion graphics and videos.

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  • Security of your hosting server says a lot about your data’s longevity

This digital age treasures, not just paper bills and bonds, but also data. Whatever we post online about our business, plus the things that we gained from it such as lead list, mailing list database, client lists, and even transaction histories are undeniably valuable business assets that should be protected.

Negligence and complacency can open doorways for hackers to get in and mess up with your valued database.

Find a hosting service provider who can give you security options to keep your peace of mind is the next best step that your company needs to do.

 

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No matter how we try to justify that hosting servers don’t matter that much in online marketing – it will always come back to haunt us just like our past mistakes. A server keeps everything visible online, it is, in fact, the foundation of all online efforts. Undermining it is like claiming to build a tower without a solid foundation.

iManila is a trusted provider of both reliable hosting services and tech support service that surely covers small and medium businesses IT concerns. Our lines are open 24/7 and our sales executives are available Mondays to Fridays to assist you with your web, IT, and digital marketing queries.

Emails: [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]

Telephone numbers: (02) 490-0000, 01, 03 or at (02) 959-4807

Mobile number: (+63) 917-8476005

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